Folmer told investigators that he was dealing with “some personal problems” and that he received child pornography through his Tumblr blog, according to charging documents.

In the complaint filed against Folmer on Tuesday, the Attorney General’s Child Predator Unit detailed the investigation that led to the charges against the Republican senator from Lebanon County. The first time child pornography was associated with an account belonging to Folmer was 2017, according to court documents.

The investigation began in March after a tip from the social media website Tumblr. The site reported “at least one image” of suspected child pornography was uploaded to the account “Hoser44” in December 2017.

Tumblr provided the account information to investigators, including the IP address and email that was used to create the account, according to court documents.

Investigators worked with the email provider to determine that the owner of the email was a “Michael Jay” and the phone number associated with the account belonged to Folmer. The IP address was tracked to Folmer’s Lebanon home.

On Tuesday, investigators conducted a search of Folmer’s home and requested Folmer return to his home to turn over his cellphone, according to court documents.

Folmer agreed and a preliminary search of his phone found two images of apparent child pornography that depicted indecent contact with a minor, according to court documents.

On Tuesday, Folmer admitted to being the creator of the Tumblr account associated with the email and the file of suspected child pornography, according to charging documents.

An attempt to contact Folmer shortly after the charges were announced Tuesday night was not immediately successful.

A Lebanon County Republican, Folmer played a key role as a co-sponsor to the law allowing medical marijuana in Pennsylvania. He was a leader in the bi-partisan effort to pass the bill, which Gov. Tom Wolf signed into law.

He had served as chairman of the Senate State Government Committee. Late Tuesday night, Senate Republican leaders said he was being removed as chairman of the committee.

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